Video of the Week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ7Y1-0bNeQ
Life Update: Well, obviously I failed to post this on Tuesday, but I had a major test today that took precedence. But - the midterms and tests are over for a while! I've been quite busy over the past week. I had 2 midterms last Thursday and then worked on Friday. Saturday morning was the Gilbert Cup which is a soccer game among the UGA language department (Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese speaking). That afternoon was the Tennessee game, but first I went with some of my friends to Washington farms, a local corn maze and pumpkin patch. Here's a couple of pictures!
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| Giant Washington Farms Chair |
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| Reliving Our Childhood |
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| Lost in the Corn Maze |
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| Cows on the Hillside |
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| Sunset View From the Back of the Truck |
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| Taking Over 2 Story with Our Studying #twins |
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Passion - life just wouldn't be the same without it. I've been spending some time lately thinking about the things that I'm truly passionate about in my life. Since I'm such a fan of making lists, that's exactly what I'm going to do to tell you about some of the things that I'm passionate about in my life. But first of all, what is passion?
On a personal level, I like to define something I'm passionate about as whatever I'm excited to be over-invested in. In simple terms, it's whatever I'm so in love with that I'm more-than-willing to go the extra mile for. It's that thing / those things in life I could be happy if I did them for the rest of my life.
The word passion itself comes from the Latin word pati that literately translates as "to suffer." I find this interesting, since today we usually associate passion with a more positive connotation. Webster defines the term as "a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something." Another definition, however, is "a strong feeling (such as anger) that causes you to act in a dangerous way." And still yet, a third definition refers to strong romantic feelings of attraction.
While it's important to have an understanding for the word itself, I'm going to focus more on that first definition and how it applies to my life. I believe that the strongest indicator of passion for something is action. This could be vocal action, giving of your time to a cause that reflects the particular passion, or maybe come in another form like monetary giving. You can usually tell when somebody is passionate about something when it's brought up in a conversation. Their posture might change, along with there speech pattern, speed, and enthusiasm level.
Also, be sure to note that passions aren't mutually exclusive. Having a passion for one thing could inevitably lead to you becoming passionate about something else. I mentioned above that I was going to develop a list of what (/who) I'm passionate about in my life. These 10 items are in no particular order by the way, and I'll try to develop each main point a little just to give you a more in-depth idea of what I'm talking about.
(1) God - This is a big category for me, and is one that is in chronological order. I'm not really sure how to summarize this point, but just know that the other passions in my life that are later on in the list wouldn't be on here if it wasn't for this one.
(2) Family/Friends - Loyalty for me is a major component of my life. And this is another category that I don't think I could easily summarize. My family is my major support system and has helped me in my pursuit of my passions in life.
(3) Music - From making music to simply creating a playlist, music is a big part of my life. I tell people all the time, I've always got a song playing in my head and you may occasionally catch me jamming out in the car. Music has this really incredible power to set the mood, serve as a pick-me-up, or provide this wonderful means of expression. And for those of you who don't know, I play the bass.
(4) Animals - If you know me at all, you probably could have guessed this one. Growing up, the Humane Society played a big roll in my life, and I spent almost every Saturday at the shelter doing volunteer work. Those people are practically like my second family now and many of them have known me for 11+ years. I'm passionate in this category specifically about advocacy, health, human education, shelters, etc.
(5) Education - While this is a big category, I have a strong belief that everyone, no matter the age, gender, or location of the person, should have equal access to and opportunity for education. And that's one of the reasons I'm an advocate for an organisation called Pencils of Promise. (If you want a link to my fundraising page, let me know!)
(6) Travel - From reading up on the cities across the world to actually packing my bags and flying there, I love travel. I love experiencing people's different cultural and individual outlooks on life. And if there was a dream job for me, it would be a traveling animal photographer, so that should tell you a little something. Also, traveling to ever state of the US and every continent (except Antarctica) are two top things on my bucket list.
(7) Sustainability - This is one of those categories that I was talking about earlier that has an impact on other passions. For example, specifically for education, I believe that we should be working to create sustainable solutions to childhood education in developing countries. But overall, when referring more to the preservation and conservation side of things, I think that sustainability should be a way of life. This especially is the case when referring to progress and thinking about where the future of the planet is going in regards to our future generations.
(8) Food - Simply put, I love to eat. I mean, who doesn't. I wouldn't go so far as to call me a connoisseur (no idea if that's spelled correctly), but I love to cook and try out new things. I'm up for trying almost anythings. There are some things I put my foot down on, but that's mostly due to texture or taste - my two major deciding factors when I choose my food.
(9) Photography - As I said under the travel category, photography is another passion of mine. Most people would simply associate this with taking pictures and editing (which is probably my favorite thing to do). However, I think that looking at other people images and ideas is an important part of art appreciation and great source of inspiration. A picture, as is said, has the ability to say a thousand words and can convey a powerful message by simply being in existence. And that fact for me is enough to captive me into placing photography into my top 10 life passions.
(10) Nature - And under this, I would group things like astronomy, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, and the like. I love my time outside which is surprisingly opposite of American culture for many families. If the weather's nice, I'm taking that as an opportunity to sip some morning coffee outside or go for an afternoon stroll by the lake.
So there you have it. There's my top ten categories of my life passions. (I apologize for any misspellings or sentences that don't make sense; the brain often works much faster than my fingers can type.) Hopefully if you know me, you already would have been able to guess my list. And if not, then I have some work cut out for me. I invite you to take the time an think about / write down your passions. Take a look at your life - are you living out your passions? Or another question for thought - Are your passions healthy? Are your priorities where they should be?
Do whatever you do with the desire to see Heaven invade this world.
Megan
Fun Fact: If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months, and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
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